1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a trap for marine life of the type that includes provisions to both securely contain the marine life and to signal to the fisherman that the bait has been disturbed and the trap closed on the marine life.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Fishermen who are seeking to trap marine life, such as crabs and lobsters, usually place their traps in an area believed to contain them, and leave the traps for a time. The fisherman then returns and takes up all his traps, and does not know until he removes and examines the traps whether he has caught anything.
Since space on most fishing boats is at a premium, it is not desirable to store and to transport a large number of empty traps to and from the fishing area each day.
The most common form of trap includes a funnel arrangement and a chamber containing bait, to lure the marine life into the chamber through the funnel, which traps do not provide for signalling of trapping. Other forms of traps involve collapsible devices, which also suffer from problems in that they require the fisherman to manually close the trap, or the trap is automatically closed after a pre-set time. Examples of such traps are disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 2,679,125 to Howard; McCrink No. 4,373,288; and Litrico No. 4,445,295, but they all suffer from one or more of the described problems.
The trap of my invention solves the problem of effectively trapping the marine life when the bait is disturbed, and also signals the fisherman that the bait has been disturbed and the trap collapsed, reducing the necessity for premature removal and transportation of empty traps, therefore greatly increasing the efficiency of the fisherman's operation.